14 DAY TRIAL // If not for the “GeForce GTX 960” clearly written on the box of the graphics card Gigabyte has prepared for release, you might be tempted to think it's actually the GeForce GTX 980 you're looking at.
This is because of the port loadout. Normally, the GeForce GTX 960 graphics card has a pair of dual-link DVI ports, one HDMI 2.0 connector, and a DisplayPort 1.2 port.
This is more than sufficient to run a game at full quality while perhaps also showing the desktop on a secondary monitor. To let you browse the web while you play, like if you need to look up a bug or whatever.
The GeForce GTX 960 G1.Gaming from Gigabyte has, instead, two dual-link DVI ports, three DisplayPort 1.2 connectors, and one HDMI 2.0.
Other than the unusual display I/O, the product has a factory-overclocked GPU and, naturally, a custom-designed cooling module.
The GeForce GTX 960 G1.Gaming
The GM204 graphics processing unit acts as the heart, of course, but the clocks aren't the ones you may have seen before.
Well, they might be, but only because the initial speeds reported actually belonged to OEM boards that had already been tweaked.
The reference GeForce GTX 960 from NVIDIA really has GPU frequencies of 1,127 MHz (Base state) and 1,178 MHz (boost state).
The factory-overclocked adapters from OEMs like EVGA and Inno3D run at 1,178 MHz and 1,228 MHz, respectively.
It is unclear if the newly pictured Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 G1.Gaming is also programmed that way, or if its factory overclock puts the board ahead or behind the competition, performance-wise. The numbers weren't included in the reports the photos originated from.
As for the cooler, it uses three fans that are only activated once temperature has passed a certain threshold. Seems to be a trend now, this heat-based activation. It keeps things quiet when you take it easy.
Availability and pricing
While the price is still up in the air (somehow, the presumed 415 / €350 to over $500 / €421 range seems way too high when the GTX 660 is $200 / €172 - €200), but the release will take place on January 22, this Thursday.
Some stores have the board already listed, but the tag is either omitted or inflated, so allow us to advise that you do not purchase the card just yet, or any competitors. No point in paying dozen or a hundred bucks more than the price should be, just to be an early bird.
